Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-05-17
CARE OF THE COLT.
How the Development OF It's Muscles an
Strength Is FncIIItated.


How the Development Of Its Muscles and
Strength is Facilitated.
HorseD are kind of livestock which
are left largely to take care of them
selves In certain sense. We busv
orrso,vo. about orr oat,,a shoon ond
' '-0NP ~ -,
s"ino' iiow shaii "o iecu- VIM. sn"ii
we do TO make the call, the lamb and
pig more valuable, we ask time and
time again But the colt comes, grows
and reaches maturity. under about the
a,,,. ts., ao..,...,
s"'"o '' '"' Do''i oo'iii'o"
ior hundreds OF years lrue enough
the system of management that Is gen.
orally adopted is not bad one. At all
events it answers. But that Is not
quite enough in these days when we
wish to produce perfection as nearly as
possible. Are our horses as good as
they might be if the growing animals
were fed at all times upon q strictly
scientific basisP None Of us will give
an Affirmative answer TO the question
If we properly understand the effect of
feeling. The horse is valuable In
proportion to the development of its
muscle. A weak horse Is yery poor
aDroperty-a strong horse Is GOOD prop
erty Consequently, the food given
the colt and young horse-and, in fact,
the mature horse2needs to be largely
Of the muscle-forming character. Their
food does not need, and must not con-
tain, so large proportion of the car
bonaceous clements as do those which
are fed to flcsh-producing animals. In
the latter case a conspicuous part of
the object In feeding is fat, while in
the former case we want to produce
ONLY moderate amount of fat and n
great deal of muscle. Very often the
horse is fed entirely too much corn. As a
portion of the horses food, and even
OF the colts, corn is good, but to feed
colt too much of this specially fat
producing food is ruinous. And in
order to Keep the matter steadily be-
fore the reader, we again call the at
tention In this connection 10 the neces-
sity of keeping the muscular and bony
systems up in all animals and at all
times. This applies even TO fattening
animals.
Now, when the colt Is getting its
food from the dam, ii is getting tho
following elements. which Is the COM
position Of mares milk: Casein. 3.4O-
per cent; butter, $50; milk sugar,
1852; ash, .53, and water, 9O.05 per
cent. In mares milk the dry matter,
that is, food, Is about 10 per cent
9. 90 per cent. to be exact-and some-
thing more than one-third of this Is
casein. The milk of the mother of the
colt. therefore, furnishes one part of
musolo-forming food TO two parts of
the carbonaceous elements. With this
lesson of nature before us we make
mistake when we feed too LARGELY a
food which contains so large a proper
tion of starch as corn. barley. etc. III the
dam gives sufficient milk. the colt will
need nothing else for six months. But
n the mare should give an insufficient
quantity. Il must be supplemented with
something else, for we think it must be
stated as a fact, whether it is ALWAYS
Observable or not that colt that
Is insufliciently nourished during
the first six months of its life never
RECEIVERS what IL thus loses. Its sslowness
of growth, under such circumstances,
Is not the worst of it. Its digestion
becomes weakened. The stomach of
the young animal, unless extended by
a sufficient quantity of food, becomes
contracted, and so when 1t is weaned
it does not hold enough to furnish the
system with what it needs. Young
animals, it must be remembered, can
not grow on nothing. 1t is their food
that gives them growth. and the moro
food they utilize the more rapid will
be their growth.